CA2285981C - Method for separating a plurality of flat objects arranged at least partially on top of each other, at a predetermined point - Google Patents
Method for separating a plurality of flat objects arranged at least partially on top of each other, at a predetermined point Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- CA2285981C CA2285981C CA002285981A CA2285981A CA2285981C CA 2285981 C CA2285981 C CA 2285981C CA 002285981 A CA002285981 A CA 002285981A CA 2285981 A CA2285981 A CA 2285981A CA 2285981 C CA2285981 C CA 2285981C
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- articles
- antistatic agent
- treated
- separation point
- participating
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Classifications
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H5/00—Feeding articles separated from piles; Feeding articles to machines
- B65H5/30—Opening devices for folded sheets or signatures
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H3/00—Separating articles from piles
- B65H3/24—Separating articles from piles by pushers engaging the edges of the articles
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H33/00—Forming counted batches in delivery pile or stream of articles
- B65H33/06—Forming counted batches in delivery pile or stream of articles by displacing articles to define batches
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H47/00—Unfolding thin limp material
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H2301/00—Handling processes for sheets or webs
- B65H2301/40—Type of handling process
- B65H2301/42—Piling, depiling, handling piles
- B65H2301/422—Handling piles, sets or stacks of articles
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H2301/00—Handling processes for sheets or webs
- B65H2301/50—Auxiliary process performed during handling process
- B65H2301/51—Modifying a characteristic of handled material
- B65H2301/513—Modifying electric properties
- B65H2301/5132—Bringing electrostatic charge
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H2301/00—Handling processes for sheets or webs
- B65H2301/50—Auxiliary process performed during handling process
- B65H2301/51—Modifying a characteristic of handled material
- B65H2301/513—Modifying electric properties
- B65H2301/5133—Removing electrostatic charge
-
- B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
- B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
- B65H—HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL, e.g. SHEETS, WEBS, CABLES
- B65H2701/00—Handled material; Storage means
- B65H2701/10—Handled articles or webs
- B65H2701/19—Specific article or web
- B65H2701/1932—Signatures, folded printed matter, newspapers or parts thereof and books
Landscapes
- Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Elimination Of Static Electricity (AREA)
- Laminated Bodies (AREA)
- Mechanical Treatment Of Semiconductor (AREA)
- Control And Other Processes For Unpacking Of Materials (AREA)
- Application Of Or Painting With Fluid Materials (AREA)
- Investigation Of Foundation Soil And Reinforcement Of Foundation Soil By Compacting Or Drainage (AREA)
- Transition And Organic Metals Composition Catalysts For Addition Polymerization (AREA)
- Sheets, Magazines, And Separation Thereof (AREA)
- Folding Of Thin Sheet-Like Materials, Special Discharging Devices, And Others (AREA)
- Separation By Low-Temperature Treatments (AREA)
- Separation, Sorting, Adjustment, Or Bending Of Sheets To Be Conveyed (AREA)
- Processing And Handling Of Plastics And Other Materials For Molding In General (AREA)
- Separation, Recovery Or Treatment Of Waste Materials Containing Plastics (AREA)
- Apparatus For Radiation Diagnosis (AREA)
- Crystals, And After-Treatments Of Crystals (AREA)
- Container, Conveyance, Adherence, Positioning, Of Wafer (AREA)
Abstract
On the surfaces of superimposed, flat articles (2) a static charge is produced by passing the superimposed articles (2) through an electric d.c. voltage field oriented substantially perpendicular to the principal surfaces of the articles. Due to the charging, electric forces of attraction between the surfaces of the articles increase the mutual adhesion. The effect of the static charging is reduced or prevented for at least one of two surfaces participating at a predetermined separation point, by treating this surface beforehand with an antistatic agent (3). Due to the antistatic agent there is no charge concentration on said surface or it is very rapidly compensated such that there is no adhesion increase at the separation point or it is much lower than between surfaces not participating at the separation point. Thus, at the separation point it is possible to displace the articles against one another with much smaller force expenditure. The method is particularly suitable for opening multipage printed products between two predetermined pages.
Description
P 12 ! 9E 17.09.99 METHOD FOR TFLE SEPARATION OF A PLURALITY OF AT LEAST
PARTLY SUPERIMPOSED, FLAT ARTICLES AT A PREDETERMINED
The invention relates to a method according to the preamble of the independent claim. The method serves to separate a plurality of at least partly superimposed, flat articles at a predetermined point. The flat articles are e.g. made from paper, card-board, fabric, felt or plastic. The plurality of flat articles to be Separated is e.g. a multipage printed product made from paper, plastic or cardboard, which is to be opened at a predetermined point. It may also be a stack or scale formation of printed products or of flat articles made from cardboard, fabric, felt or plastic and from which stack yr scale formation a specific number of articles is to be removed by separation of the plurality at a predetermined point.
Superimposed, flat articles are frequently separated from one another by shoving a separating element, e.g. a separating wedge between the articles to be separated. The more congruent, thin and sensitive to mechanical damage the articles in question are, the more difficult it is to successfully effect a separation using a separating element.
On the one hand it is difficult to aim the element precisely at a predetermined point and on the other hand the risk of the separating element damaging the narrow sides or cdgcs of the flat articles is not negligible.
Therefore, superimposed, flat articles are advantageously displaced against one an-other parallel to their principal surfaces, prior to an effective separation.
By such P12191r I 7.09.99 -z-displacement, areas of the principal surfaces of individual articles are exposed which areas are much better suited for being acted on by a mechanical separating element than the narrow side areas of the articles.
CSI-440339 describes a method for displacing relative to each other two directly su-perimposed articles within a plurality of superimposed such articles wherein a dis-placement force having a component parallel to the principal surfaces of the articles is employed. In this method, there is no action on individual narrow sides or edges of the articles. For enabling the mentioned displacement to take place between two spe-cific articles of the plurality of superimposed articles (predetermined separation point), whilst the other articles remain substantially undisplaced with respect to one another, the adhesion between the two specific articles is reduced compared with the adhesion between the other articles by measures suitable for reducing the friction coefficient between the two specific articles.
Measures for reducing the friction coefficient, e.g. include treating at least one of the surfaces to be displaced relative to each other with a lubricant or smoothing ii or positioning a sliding film between the articles to be displaced. Examples of lubricants are waxes, high-viscosity silicone oils or dry lubricants.
Building up on the teaching of the aforementioned patent, CI-~-534588 describes how a stack of flexible sheets is made separable at a plurality of different, predetermined points, by applying the friction coefficient reducing measures to different, predeter-mined sheets in nonoverlapping areffs. The stack is separated at a specif:c one of the predetermined separation points by directing the displacement force to the come' sponding treated area .-17.09.99 )it has been found that the processes according to CH-440339 and CH-534588 give satisfactory results in many applications. However, it has been found also that in other cases the reliability with which the displacement is effected exactly in the pre-determined point is not adequate, so that the method cannot be used when high de-mends arc made. Such cases are e.g. the separation of pages of muttipage printed products for the purpose of opening the product at a predetermined point. This especially so when the individual pages cf the printed products are made from a very smooth or correspondingly coated material and therefore adhere very little to one another andlor when the individual pages of the printed products are made from dif I O ferent materials with ditl'erent friction characteristics.
The abject of the invention is to provide a method for separating a plurality of at least partly superimposed, flat articles at a predetermined point. With the aid of the method according to the invention it is to be possible to solve separating problems in application areas where known methods are unusable and/or to attain better results than possible with the known methods.
This problem is solved by the method, as defined in the claims The inventive method is based on the fact that the adhesion between superimposed, flat articles can be increased by the static charging of their surfaces.
According to the inventive method, a static charge is produced on the surfaces of the superimposed, 24 flat articles, by passing the articles through an electric d.c, voltage field oriented sub-stantially perpendicular to the principal surfaces of the articles. Due to the effect of the field, dipoles are oriented or charges are displaced perpendicular to the principal surfaces and positive or negative charges are concentrated on the two surfaces of each of the articles. These charges cause electric attraction forces between the sur-ZS faces ofsuperimposed such articles and therefore, increase the mutual adhesion.
P12191r 17. 09.99 -a-The effect of the static charging of surfaces of superimposed, flat articles is reduced or prevented for at least one of two surfaces participating at a predete~rnined separa-tion point, by treating said surface beforehand with an antistatic agent. Due to the limited conductivity ofthe antistatic agent, charges cannot concentrate on the treated surface or they are very rapidly compensated. Thus, passage through the voltage field causes no adhesion increase at the separation point or at least much less adhesion increase than it causes between not treated surfaces and therefore, the treated sur faces can be moved relative to each other by a lower force than is necessary for dis placing not treated surfaces, which displacement by low force distinguishes the sepa l O ration point.
Application ofa static charge for increasing the adhesion between flat articles not to be separated combined with a planned application of antistatic agent for suppressing said effect at a separation point can also be combined with the reduction of the fric-tion between the fiat articles to be separated by applying a lubricant, as described hereinbefore as prior art. Since for such a combination advantageously the antistatic agent and the lubricant are used on the same surface areas, the two agents can be used simultaneously in the form of a mixture in a single method step. It is also possi-ble to add a luminophore to the antistatic agent or to the mixture of antistatic agent and lubricant, the luminophore being useful for checking the separation at the prede-termined separation paint with the aid of luminescence sensors.
The method according to the invention is described in greater detail hereinafter in connection with the attached Figures, wherein:
Fig. 1 shows a diagram of the successive steps of the inventive method;
Fig. Z shows the inventive method using the example of multipage printed products ZS to be opened at a predetermined paint;
P1219E 17.09.99 Figs. 3 & 4 show two examples of printed products provided with a plurality of pre~
determined opening points.
Fig. 1 shows a diagram of the successive method steps using the example of a stack 1 comprising five superimposed, flat articles 2. The stack is to be separated by dis-placing the two upper articles with respect to the three tower articles.
'hhus, the pre-determined separation point is located between the upper surface of the third article and the lower surface of the fourth article within stack 1.
Before or during stacking articles 2, at least one of the surfaces participating at the separation point is treated, e.g. coated with an antistatic agent 3.
Antistatic agents are more particularly known from the plastics industry. They are e.g. conductive particles (e.g. carbon black, carbon fibres, nickel-eoatcd mica, steel fibres or aluminium platelets) finely distributed usually in a plastic matrix, or ionic compounds (e.g. quaternary ammonium salts), surfactants {e.g. glycol esters, glycol ethers or esters and salts of fatty acids) or hygroscopic substances (e.g.
glycerol or polyglycoi), which are used as such or in the form of aqueous or alcoholic solutions.
The treatment with the antistatic agent may comprise spraying or roller application if the agent iS liquid or melted. In the case of a solid agent the treatment may comprise a direct rubbing off or rubbing off with a brush onto the surface to be treated. For applications of the inventive method to printed paper, it is also possible to mix the 24 aforementioned conductive particles into tfte printing ink with which the paper is printed. For this purpose, e. g. the conductive pigment Minatec ~ sold by Merck in Darmstadt is suitable.
P1219E 17.09.99 Through the application of such antistatic agents the surface resistance of the treated surfaces is reduced to normally 10~° to 10~ S2 The surface treated with the antistatic anent 3 constitutes within the stack one of the surfaces to be displaced relative to each other. It is obviously also possible and even advantageous in certain applications, to treat not only one surface of the separation point, but instead treat both surfaces participating at the separation point.
'fhe stack 1 is then exposed to a d.c. voltage field, wherein the field lines are oriented substantially perpendicular to the principal surfaces of the articles. 1~or this purpose the stack is passed between two electrodes 10, e.g. between two plates or rods to each of which a different constant potential is applied. By the effect of the field, di-poles are oriented or charges are displaced within the flat articles. Between the two surfaces of an article a potential difference is built up or the surfaces of the article are statically charged (diagrammatically represented by small plus and minus signs in Fig. 1). These charges are opposed at superimposed surfaces of adjacent articles and 1 S cause electric forces of attraction between the articles.
At surface points where the antistatic agent acts, little or no charge can build up as a result of the increased surface conductivity, so that in such surface oleos the forces of attraction between the articles are correspondingly lower.
In the method diagrammatically illustrated by Fig_ 1 the entire surface of an article 2 is treated with the antistatic agent and the entire stack or the entire base surface of the stack is exposed to the d_c. voltage field. This is not a condition for the inventive method. As will be shown in connection with Figs. 3 and 4, the antistatic agent may be applied to a surface only tonally. It is also possible to electrostatically charge only P I 219E 17.9.99 _7_ part of the stack. However, electrostatic charging is to coincide with treated surface areas wherein the charged area may be smaller than the treated area.
Apparatuses for producing static charges on flat articles are known from the pa-per-processing industry. They are e.S. used for preventing mutual displacement of loosely superimposed paper webs or sheets. An example of such an apparatus is the ion shooter of Spengfer Electronics AG, Biel-Denken (Switzerland).
The voltage difference between the two electrodes 10 of such an apparatus is ap-proximately 10 kV.
Immediately after static charging, a displacement force {arrow l 1 ), e.g.
acting on the stack surface and having a component parallel to the principal surfaces of the articles is applied to the stack 1. By this displacement force 11 the two surfaces in the stack adhering Least to one another are displaced against one another, even if the force does not act at the separation point but acts e.g. on the stack surface.
I3y displacing two articles of the stack against one another, areas 12 of principal sur-faces of these articles are exposed and can be acted on with mechanical means in order to effectively separate the articles of the stack. For such an action the risk of damaging the articles is much lower than for an action on narrow sides {edges) of articles as is necessary for a separation without prior displacement. In addition, the exposed principal surfaces define the separation point in such a way that it cannot be missed by a mechanical separating element.
Fig. 2 diagrammatically shows as an example of an application of the inventive method the production of a multipas~e printed product Z0, Wig. a magazine or bro-P1219E 17,09.99 _g_ chure, and an opening of the printed product 20 between two predetermined pages, in order to insert a supplement.
The printed product is e.g. grouped and stitched in a collecting and stitching drum through collecting prefolded sheets, as is very dias~rammatically shown in the top line of Fig. 2. Additionally, the printed producx can also be trimmed on three sides. Dur-ing the collecting a corner area 22 is treated with an antistatic agent, a.g by spraying from a spray head 21 onto an inner page of the printed product.
Following production, the closed printed product is passed between two electrodes 10, so that the pages of the product are statically charged. Immediately following charging, a displacing force I I is applied to the outside of the printed product in the corner area in which one of the inner pages is treated with the antistatic agent. Due to the force the pages between the separation point and the force application are de-formed and displaced relative to the other pages. It is now possible without any risk to insert into the printed product a per se known and not shown opening element at I S the separation point and to e.g. insert a supplement (arrow 23).
Figs. 3 and 4 show multipage printed products 30 with a bound, stitched ar glued spine 3 l, said printed products having more than one predetermined separation point.
In the same way as described in the aforementioned CH-534588, said separation points are implemented by pages, which zonally carry an antistatic agent. The treated areas of the different separation points are advantageously non-overlapping corner areas 32, 3:~ and/or edge-adjacent areas 34, 35. After charging the articles it is possi-ble to open the product in a specific one of the separation points by applying a dis-placement force on the outside of the product to one of the areas 32 to 35.
P I 219E 17, 09. 99 . g_ The static charging of flat articles pradueed by the d.c. voltage field decreases in a relatively short time. It is therefore important to have the displacement force acting immediately after charging. However, the action of the antistatic agent remains over a very long time, so that the time between the application of the agent and the charging can be of any length. At any time after a first charging, charging can be repeated and the articles can be again mutually displaced in the described manner and at the same predetermined separation point.
PARTLY SUPERIMPOSED, FLAT ARTICLES AT A PREDETERMINED
The invention relates to a method according to the preamble of the independent claim. The method serves to separate a plurality of at least partly superimposed, flat articles at a predetermined point. The flat articles are e.g. made from paper, card-board, fabric, felt or plastic. The plurality of flat articles to be Separated is e.g. a multipage printed product made from paper, plastic or cardboard, which is to be opened at a predetermined point. It may also be a stack or scale formation of printed products or of flat articles made from cardboard, fabric, felt or plastic and from which stack yr scale formation a specific number of articles is to be removed by separation of the plurality at a predetermined point.
Superimposed, flat articles are frequently separated from one another by shoving a separating element, e.g. a separating wedge between the articles to be separated. The more congruent, thin and sensitive to mechanical damage the articles in question are, the more difficult it is to successfully effect a separation using a separating element.
On the one hand it is difficult to aim the element precisely at a predetermined point and on the other hand the risk of the separating element damaging the narrow sides or cdgcs of the flat articles is not negligible.
Therefore, superimposed, flat articles are advantageously displaced against one an-other parallel to their principal surfaces, prior to an effective separation.
By such P12191r I 7.09.99 -z-displacement, areas of the principal surfaces of individual articles are exposed which areas are much better suited for being acted on by a mechanical separating element than the narrow side areas of the articles.
CSI-440339 describes a method for displacing relative to each other two directly su-perimposed articles within a plurality of superimposed such articles wherein a dis-placement force having a component parallel to the principal surfaces of the articles is employed. In this method, there is no action on individual narrow sides or edges of the articles. For enabling the mentioned displacement to take place between two spe-cific articles of the plurality of superimposed articles (predetermined separation point), whilst the other articles remain substantially undisplaced with respect to one another, the adhesion between the two specific articles is reduced compared with the adhesion between the other articles by measures suitable for reducing the friction coefficient between the two specific articles.
Measures for reducing the friction coefficient, e.g. include treating at least one of the surfaces to be displaced relative to each other with a lubricant or smoothing ii or positioning a sliding film between the articles to be displaced. Examples of lubricants are waxes, high-viscosity silicone oils or dry lubricants.
Building up on the teaching of the aforementioned patent, CI-~-534588 describes how a stack of flexible sheets is made separable at a plurality of different, predetermined points, by applying the friction coefficient reducing measures to different, predeter-mined sheets in nonoverlapping areffs. The stack is separated at a specif:c one of the predetermined separation points by directing the displacement force to the come' sponding treated area .-17.09.99 )it has been found that the processes according to CH-440339 and CH-534588 give satisfactory results in many applications. However, it has been found also that in other cases the reliability with which the displacement is effected exactly in the pre-determined point is not adequate, so that the method cannot be used when high de-mends arc made. Such cases are e.g. the separation of pages of muttipage printed products for the purpose of opening the product at a predetermined point. This especially so when the individual pages cf the printed products are made from a very smooth or correspondingly coated material and therefore adhere very little to one another andlor when the individual pages of the printed products are made from dif I O ferent materials with ditl'erent friction characteristics.
The abject of the invention is to provide a method for separating a plurality of at least partly superimposed, flat articles at a predetermined point. With the aid of the method according to the invention it is to be possible to solve separating problems in application areas where known methods are unusable and/or to attain better results than possible with the known methods.
This problem is solved by the method, as defined in the claims The inventive method is based on the fact that the adhesion between superimposed, flat articles can be increased by the static charging of their surfaces.
According to the inventive method, a static charge is produced on the surfaces of the superimposed, 24 flat articles, by passing the articles through an electric d.c, voltage field oriented sub-stantially perpendicular to the principal surfaces of the articles. Due to the effect of the field, dipoles are oriented or charges are displaced perpendicular to the principal surfaces and positive or negative charges are concentrated on the two surfaces of each of the articles. These charges cause electric attraction forces between the sur-ZS faces ofsuperimposed such articles and therefore, increase the mutual adhesion.
P12191r 17. 09.99 -a-The effect of the static charging of surfaces of superimposed, flat articles is reduced or prevented for at least one of two surfaces participating at a predete~rnined separa-tion point, by treating said surface beforehand with an antistatic agent. Due to the limited conductivity ofthe antistatic agent, charges cannot concentrate on the treated surface or they are very rapidly compensated. Thus, passage through the voltage field causes no adhesion increase at the separation point or at least much less adhesion increase than it causes between not treated surfaces and therefore, the treated sur faces can be moved relative to each other by a lower force than is necessary for dis placing not treated surfaces, which displacement by low force distinguishes the sepa l O ration point.
Application ofa static charge for increasing the adhesion between flat articles not to be separated combined with a planned application of antistatic agent for suppressing said effect at a separation point can also be combined with the reduction of the fric-tion between the fiat articles to be separated by applying a lubricant, as described hereinbefore as prior art. Since for such a combination advantageously the antistatic agent and the lubricant are used on the same surface areas, the two agents can be used simultaneously in the form of a mixture in a single method step. It is also possi-ble to add a luminophore to the antistatic agent or to the mixture of antistatic agent and lubricant, the luminophore being useful for checking the separation at the prede-termined separation paint with the aid of luminescence sensors.
The method according to the invention is described in greater detail hereinafter in connection with the attached Figures, wherein:
Fig. 1 shows a diagram of the successive steps of the inventive method;
Fig. Z shows the inventive method using the example of multipage printed products ZS to be opened at a predetermined paint;
P1219E 17.09.99 Figs. 3 & 4 show two examples of printed products provided with a plurality of pre~
determined opening points.
Fig. 1 shows a diagram of the successive method steps using the example of a stack 1 comprising five superimposed, flat articles 2. The stack is to be separated by dis-placing the two upper articles with respect to the three tower articles.
'hhus, the pre-determined separation point is located between the upper surface of the third article and the lower surface of the fourth article within stack 1.
Before or during stacking articles 2, at least one of the surfaces participating at the separation point is treated, e.g. coated with an antistatic agent 3.
Antistatic agents are more particularly known from the plastics industry. They are e.g. conductive particles (e.g. carbon black, carbon fibres, nickel-eoatcd mica, steel fibres or aluminium platelets) finely distributed usually in a plastic matrix, or ionic compounds (e.g. quaternary ammonium salts), surfactants {e.g. glycol esters, glycol ethers or esters and salts of fatty acids) or hygroscopic substances (e.g.
glycerol or polyglycoi), which are used as such or in the form of aqueous or alcoholic solutions.
The treatment with the antistatic agent may comprise spraying or roller application if the agent iS liquid or melted. In the case of a solid agent the treatment may comprise a direct rubbing off or rubbing off with a brush onto the surface to be treated. For applications of the inventive method to printed paper, it is also possible to mix the 24 aforementioned conductive particles into tfte printing ink with which the paper is printed. For this purpose, e. g. the conductive pigment Minatec ~ sold by Merck in Darmstadt is suitable.
P1219E 17.09.99 Through the application of such antistatic agents the surface resistance of the treated surfaces is reduced to normally 10~° to 10~ S2 The surface treated with the antistatic anent 3 constitutes within the stack one of the surfaces to be displaced relative to each other. It is obviously also possible and even advantageous in certain applications, to treat not only one surface of the separation point, but instead treat both surfaces participating at the separation point.
'fhe stack 1 is then exposed to a d.c. voltage field, wherein the field lines are oriented substantially perpendicular to the principal surfaces of the articles. 1~or this purpose the stack is passed between two electrodes 10, e.g. between two plates or rods to each of which a different constant potential is applied. By the effect of the field, di-poles are oriented or charges are displaced within the flat articles. Between the two surfaces of an article a potential difference is built up or the surfaces of the article are statically charged (diagrammatically represented by small plus and minus signs in Fig. 1). These charges are opposed at superimposed surfaces of adjacent articles and 1 S cause electric forces of attraction between the articles.
At surface points where the antistatic agent acts, little or no charge can build up as a result of the increased surface conductivity, so that in such surface oleos the forces of attraction between the articles are correspondingly lower.
In the method diagrammatically illustrated by Fig_ 1 the entire surface of an article 2 is treated with the antistatic agent and the entire stack or the entire base surface of the stack is exposed to the d_c. voltage field. This is not a condition for the inventive method. As will be shown in connection with Figs. 3 and 4, the antistatic agent may be applied to a surface only tonally. It is also possible to electrostatically charge only P I 219E 17.9.99 _7_ part of the stack. However, electrostatic charging is to coincide with treated surface areas wherein the charged area may be smaller than the treated area.
Apparatuses for producing static charges on flat articles are known from the pa-per-processing industry. They are e.S. used for preventing mutual displacement of loosely superimposed paper webs or sheets. An example of such an apparatus is the ion shooter of Spengfer Electronics AG, Biel-Denken (Switzerland).
The voltage difference between the two electrodes 10 of such an apparatus is ap-proximately 10 kV.
Immediately after static charging, a displacement force {arrow l 1 ), e.g.
acting on the stack surface and having a component parallel to the principal surfaces of the articles is applied to the stack 1. By this displacement force 11 the two surfaces in the stack adhering Least to one another are displaced against one another, even if the force does not act at the separation point but acts e.g. on the stack surface.
I3y displacing two articles of the stack against one another, areas 12 of principal sur-faces of these articles are exposed and can be acted on with mechanical means in order to effectively separate the articles of the stack. For such an action the risk of damaging the articles is much lower than for an action on narrow sides {edges) of articles as is necessary for a separation without prior displacement. In addition, the exposed principal surfaces define the separation point in such a way that it cannot be missed by a mechanical separating element.
Fig. 2 diagrammatically shows as an example of an application of the inventive method the production of a multipas~e printed product Z0, Wig. a magazine or bro-P1219E 17,09.99 _g_ chure, and an opening of the printed product 20 between two predetermined pages, in order to insert a supplement.
The printed product is e.g. grouped and stitched in a collecting and stitching drum through collecting prefolded sheets, as is very dias~rammatically shown in the top line of Fig. 2. Additionally, the printed producx can also be trimmed on three sides. Dur-ing the collecting a corner area 22 is treated with an antistatic agent, a.g by spraying from a spray head 21 onto an inner page of the printed product.
Following production, the closed printed product is passed between two electrodes 10, so that the pages of the product are statically charged. Immediately following charging, a displacing force I I is applied to the outside of the printed product in the corner area in which one of the inner pages is treated with the antistatic agent. Due to the force the pages between the separation point and the force application are de-formed and displaced relative to the other pages. It is now possible without any risk to insert into the printed product a per se known and not shown opening element at I S the separation point and to e.g. insert a supplement (arrow 23).
Figs. 3 and 4 show multipage printed products 30 with a bound, stitched ar glued spine 3 l, said printed products having more than one predetermined separation point.
In the same way as described in the aforementioned CH-534588, said separation points are implemented by pages, which zonally carry an antistatic agent. The treated areas of the different separation points are advantageously non-overlapping corner areas 32, 3:~ and/or edge-adjacent areas 34, 35. After charging the articles it is possi-ble to open the product in a specific one of the separation points by applying a dis-placement force on the outside of the product to one of the areas 32 to 35.
P I 219E 17, 09. 99 . g_ The static charging of flat articles pradueed by the d.c. voltage field decreases in a relatively short time. It is therefore important to have the displacement force acting immediately after charging. However, the action of the antistatic agent remains over a very long time, so that the time between the application of the agent and the charging can be of any length. At any time after a first charging, charging can be repeated and the articles can be again mutually displaced in the described manner and at the same predetermined separation point.
Claims (13)
1. Method for separating a plurality of at least partly superimposed, flat articles (2) at at least one predetermined separation point, wherein two surfaces of two arti-cles (2) participating at the separation point are displaced relative to each other by a displacement force (11), characterized in that the adhesion between the su-perimposed, flat articles (2) is increased by static charging wherein the static charging and consequently the adhesion of surfaces participating at a separation point compared with surfaces not participating at a separation point is reduced by reducing the surface resistance such rendering the surfaces participating at a separation point more easily displaceable against one another.
2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that at least one of the surfaces participating at the separation point is at least zonally treated with an antistatic agent (3) prior to superimposing the articles (2), that the superimposed articles (2) are statically charged with the aid of a d.c. voltage field and that immediately following charging the displacement force (11) is applied to the plurality of su-perimposed flat articles (2) in such a way that the displacement force (11) having a component parallel to the principal surfaces of the articles acts on the separa-tion point in the treated area (22) displacing the surfaces participating at the sepa-ration point against one another.
3. Method according to claim 2, characterized in that the at least one surface par-ticipating at the separation point is simultaneously treated with an antistatic agent (3) and with a lubticant and/or luminophore.
4. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterised in that the antistatic agent (3) is liquid and is sprayed onto the surface or is applied with the aid of rollers to the surface or that the antistatic agent is solid and is rubbed onto the surface to be treated.
5. Method according to claim 4, characterized in that the antistatic agent (3) consists at least partly of electrically conductive particles, of an ionic compound, of a sur-factant or of a hygroscopic substance and that the surface treated with the anti-static agent has a surface resistance of 10 10 to 10 8 .OMEGA..
6. Method according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the flat articles are made of printed paper and that the antistatic agent comprises conductive par-ticles, which are admixed with the printing ink and are applied to the surface to be treated during printing.
7. Method according to one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the d.c.
voltage field has a potential difference of approximately 10 kV.
voltage field has a potential difference of approximately 10 kV.
8. Method according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the entire articles (2) are exposed to the d.c. voltage field.
9. Method according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the articles are only zonally exposed to the d.c. voltage field, the areas exposed to said field sub-stantially coinciding with an area treated with the antistatic agent of at least one of the surfaces participating at a separation point.
10. Method according to one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that for separation of a plurality of superimposed, flat articles (2) at a plurality of predetermined separa-tion points, a plurality of surfaces are treated in non-superimposed and non-overlapping areas (32 to 35) with an antistatic agent and the displacement force (11) for separation in a specific one of the plurality of separation points is directed to the treated area of one of the surfaces participating at the specific separation point.
11. Use of the method according to one of claims 1 to 10 for the predetermined opening of multipage printed produce (20).
12. Use according to claim 11, characterized in that during production a plurality of pages of the multipage printed products (30) are treated with an antistatic agent at non-overlapping corner areas (32, 33) and/or at edge-bordering areas (34, 35).
13. Use according to claim 11, characterized in that together with the antistatic agent a luminophore is applied and that the predetermined opening is checked with the aid of a luminescence sensor.
Applications Claiming Priority (3)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CH88997 | 1997-04-16 | ||
| CH0889/97 | 1997-04-16 | ||
| PCT/CH1998/000129 WO1998046508A1 (en) | 1997-04-16 | 1998-04-07 | Method for separating a plurality of flat objects arranged at least partially on top of each other, at a predetermined point |
Publications (2)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA2285981A1 CA2285981A1 (en) | 1998-10-22 |
| CA2285981C true CA2285981C (en) | 2006-02-21 |
Family
ID=4197551
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA002285981A Expired - Fee Related CA2285981C (en) | 1997-04-16 | 1998-04-07 | Method for separating a plurality of flat objects arranged at least partially on top of each other, at a predetermined point |
Country Status (14)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| EP (1) | EP0975540B1 (en) |
| JP (1) | JP2001519750A (en) |
| AT (1) | ATE202998T1 (en) |
| AU (1) | AU727498B2 (en) |
| CA (1) | CA2285981C (en) |
| CZ (1) | CZ298389B6 (en) |
| DE (1) | DE59801001D1 (en) |
| DK (1) | DK0975540T3 (en) |
| ES (1) | ES2162425T3 (en) |
| IL (1) | IL132132A (en) |
| NO (1) | NO313822B1 (en) |
| PL (1) | PL336227A1 (en) |
| RU (1) | RU2203189C2 (en) |
| WO (1) | WO1998046508A1 (en) |
Families Citing this family (2)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| JP2007168953A (en) * | 2005-12-21 | 2007-07-05 | Maruishi Seisakusho:Kk | Paper separating/carrying device and paper separating/carrying method |
| RU2658051C2 (en) * | 2016-10-10 | 2018-06-19 | Олег Николаевич Береснев | Method of the film into the plastic products manufacturing mold feeding |
Family Cites Families (3)
| Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AT255974B (en) * | 1965-10-21 | 1967-07-25 | Ferag Ag | Method for dividing a number of at least partially superposed flat structures at a predetermined location |
| DE1948227A1 (en) * | 1969-09-24 | 1971-04-01 | Haver & Boecker | Device for stacking, separating and conveying open-topped bags or sacks, preferably made of plastic |
| CH534588A (en) * | 1971-01-12 | 1973-03-15 | Fehr & Reist Ag | Stack of several stacked sheets |
-
1998
- 1998-04-07 IL IL13213298A patent/IL132132A/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1998-04-07 RU RU99121668/12A patent/RU2203189C2/en active
- 1998-04-07 CZ CZ0346699A patent/CZ298389B6/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1998-04-07 AT AT98910567T patent/ATE202998T1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
- 1998-04-07 ES ES98910567T patent/ES2162425T3/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1998-04-07 WO PCT/CH1998/000129 patent/WO1998046508A1/en active IP Right Grant
- 1998-04-07 PL PL98336227A patent/PL336227A1/en unknown
- 1998-04-07 JP JP54334298A patent/JP2001519750A/en active Pending
- 1998-04-07 AU AU64932/98A patent/AU727498B2/en not_active Ceased
- 1998-04-07 EP EP98910567A patent/EP0975540B1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1998-04-07 DK DK98910567T patent/DK0975540T3/en not_active Application Discontinuation
- 1998-04-07 CA CA002285981A patent/CA2285981C/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
- 1998-04-07 DE DE59801001T patent/DE59801001D1/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
-
1999
- 1999-10-14 NO NO19994999A patent/NO313822B1/en not_active IP Right Cessation
Also Published As
| Publication number | Publication date |
|---|---|
| DE59801001D1 (en) | 2001-08-16 |
| ES2162425T3 (en) | 2001-12-16 |
| DK0975540T3 (en) | 2001-11-05 |
| WO1998046508A1 (en) | 1998-10-22 |
| EP0975540A1 (en) | 2000-02-02 |
| ATE202998T1 (en) | 2001-07-15 |
| AU727498B2 (en) | 2000-12-14 |
| NO994999D0 (en) | 1999-10-14 |
| IL132132A (en) | 2002-09-12 |
| JP2001519750A (en) | 2001-10-23 |
| NO313822B1 (en) | 2002-12-09 |
| AU6493298A (en) | 1998-11-11 |
| CA2285981A1 (en) | 1998-10-22 |
| EP0975540B1 (en) | 2001-07-11 |
| PL336227A1 (en) | 2000-06-19 |
| CZ9903466A3 (en) | 2001-07-11 |
| CZ298389B6 (en) | 2007-09-19 |
| NO994999L (en) | 1999-12-15 |
| IL132132A0 (en) | 2001-03-19 |
| RU2203189C2 (en) | 2003-04-27 |
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| Date | Code | Title | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| EEER | Examination request | ||
| MKLA | Lapsed |